Budget for a greener and more digital Europe in 2022

The Council of the European Union and the European Parliament adopted the EU budget for 2022 at the end of 2021. Within the EU’s second multiannual financial framework 2021-2027, this resolution refers to commitments of €169.5 billion and payments of €170.6 billion. 

The money that will be allocated in 2022 reflects the priorities in the EU’s political strategy: economic recovery after the Covid-19 pandemic, the ecological transition, the digital transition and the fight against climate change. In addition, it sets aside resources within the expenditure ceilings to cope with unforeseen needs.

Budget breakdown

The following is a breakdown of the EU budgets for 2022, from the largest to the smallest:

· The CAP (Common Agricultural Policy),the largest figure, amounts to €53.1 billion. In addition, €971.9 million are earmarked to strengthen the Maritime and Fisheries Fund.

· Economic, social and territorial cohesion receives €49.7 billion.

· International and development cooperation with neighbouring countries collects €15.2 billion.

· Horizon Europe, the EU’s main framework programme, receives €12.2 billion to support research in sectors such as industry, space, climate, energy and mobility, health and digital technologies. In addition, the Single Market programme will be endowed with €613.5 million.

· Education and youth will be reinforced with €3.4 billion for the Erasmus+ programme, and €406 million for the creative and cultural sectors through the Creative Europe programme.

· Boosting modern, high-performance transport infrastructure to facilitate cross-border connections will receive €2.2 billion through the Connecting Europe Facility.

· The transition to climate neutrality will benefit from €1.2 billion under the Just Transition Fund, as well as €755.5 million to support environment and climate action under the LIFE Programme.

· Migration management will receive €1.1 billion for the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund, and border management cooperation will receive a budget of €809.3 million for the Integrated Border Management Fund.

· The health needs of EU citizens will be addressed through the EU4Health programme, which will receive €839.7 million.

· The strategic security and autonomy of the European Union will receive an allocation of €945.7 million for the European Defence Fund (EDF) and €227.1 million for the Internal Security Fund.

In addition to this annual budget of €169.5 billion, the 27 EU countries will continue to receive financial support from the Next Generation EU recovery instrument and its main component, the Recovery and Resilience Mechanism (RRM).